Corrects typo in headline
Viagra is not a proven cure for COVID-19, contrary to suggestions made in response to a news report about a British nurse who told how she was given a large dose of Viagra, otherwise known as sildenafil, as part of her treatment for COVID-19 (here).
After being hospitalised with COVID-19, the nurse said doctors at Lincoln County Hospital put her into an induced coma, and gave her Viagra as an element of an experimental treatment regime.
The story prompted debate over the merits of the drug in treating the disease.
As well as erectile dysfunction, sildenafil is used to treat pulmonary arterial hypertension, or high blood pressure in the lungs (here).
It has been shown to enhance the intake of nitric oxide and increase the dilation of the lung’s blood vessels (here).
A spokesperson for United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust told Reuters that using Sildenafil to treat pulmonary hypertension was not unusual.
“A patient’s recovery will not be due to one drug alone, but also in combination with a number of other factors, including the skill and dedication of Intensive Care Unit medical and nursing staff, application of the latest evidence-based therapies for COVID, and vaccination against COVID”, the spokesperson said in an email.
Sildenafil is currently being researched alongside nitric oxide to find out whether it can help the immune system fight COVID-19 ( here , here ).
The research considers the potential ability of nitric oxide to open up blood vessels, and so helping oxygen circulation in the lungs (here).
However, scientists at the Meedan Health Desk (here) have said that more evidence is needed to definitively determine if the two play a potential role in COVID-19 treatment.
One small-scale study (here) – which was referenced by Tucker Carlson in a segment on his Fox News program - said sildenafil treatment could have a "potential therapeutic role” for patients but that a large-scale study would be needed to confirm these results.
“It would be irresponsible to call Sildenafil or other single drug the “cure” for Covid-19 for now”, the authors of the study, radiologists Mario Santamarina and Ignacio Beddings, told Reuters in an email.
The scientists explained that their results showed differences between the sildenafil and placebo groups, favouring the sildenafil group in imaging studies.
However, they stressed that for now it was not possible to conclude that the favorable differences were attributable to sildenafil.
“The achievement of this study was to open a window for larger trials, showing that there could be a potential therapeutic role for sildenafil in Covid-19, and providing descriptive evidence for sample size calculation in future trials”, they said.
The UK's Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency told Reuters via email that Viagra was not an approved treatment for COVID-19 in the UK. It is not listed in the World Health Organization’s therapeutic guidelines (here).
VERDICT
Misleading. Viagra is not a proven cure for COVID-19. One small-scale study that said sildenafil treatment could have a “potential therapeutic role” for patients but that a large-scale study would be needed to confirm these results.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here .
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.